The Curse Review

The
Good

Lots of puzzles. The Mannequin has a charming, sort of likeable personality.

The
Bad

Mercy is not dispensed here, you'll have to pay for it ...literally.

The greatest curse of all is the one you’re likely to spout while dealing with some of these brain-bending puzzles.

Let’s get one thing out of the way up-front: The Curse is a good game. That said, The Curse is also a game which could potentially make you angrier than any other game on the iPhone.

It begins with a neat premise, beckoning you to open a book by touching the latch on the screen which keeps it shut. But what ho! You’ve now just inadvertently released a spirit sealed inside the book!

Known as “The Mannequin,” this fellow exudes a rather charming but slightly devious personality. Though he seems to have a head, neck, and body, his gloved hands seem to move without the aid of arms. What’s more, he always sports a mask with a perpetual People’s Eyebrow and a smirk which seem to insinuate that you amuse him, but without being overly insulting about it.

The game doesn’t give much motivation for you to want to try to seal him back in the book, but perhaps we just like him more than we’re expected to. Regardless, that’s the point of the game, so it’s time to get crackin’. 100 puzzles must be completed in order to accomplish your task, with 20 among them hiding cogs needed for the final puzzle.

The puzzles, oh the puzzles… you’ll find all kinds here, ranging from amazingly easy to “you want a curse? I’ll show you a curse!” hard. There are riddles, circuits, those little puzzles where you have to use lines to divide everything into separate compartments, tangrams, and more.

There are quite a few different kinds indeed, with different types recurring in more challenging incarnations. And unless you’re just really good at puzzles of all kinds, you’re probably bound to stumble into one which is your weakness. In our case? Those blasted sliding-block puzzles. Worse still is when puzzles you really need to work and experiment with are timed.

You want mercy? A guiding hand to show you the way? That will cost you. Professor Layton, this ain’t; you won’t find any hint coins here to help ease your journey. Instead, you can purchase them in bulk online with real-world cash.

In that regard, the game is pretty merciless; if you’re not good at a certain type of puzzle, then you’re going to pay. Granted, The Mannequin does give you a game of chance to win one, but our experience with those so far has not paid off. Is it rigged? The Mannequin teases you about the very prospect, but his unmoving lips are sealed.

The Curse is a great game, but again, it’s out to taunt and torment you into spending your money to be able to lock The Mannequin away once again. It’s just a darn shame we kind of want him to stick around, which seems to work against the entire premise.